The present invention pertains to communication systems and more particularly to transcoding methods for converting coded voice between different transport types.
For speech or voice transmission in modern communication systems, the speech or voice is vocoded (voice coded) by digitization and sampling on one end and reconstruction on the other end. As the vocoded signals are transmitted from one network to another they must be recoded or transcoded to another type of signal compatible with the receiving network. Current transcoding methods use a limited number of channel types to convert coded voice to sampled voice for conversion from an Internet Protocol (IP) transport to a time division multiplex transport and vice versa.
The transcoding function is typically performed by a gateway which connects one network to another. The transcoders of such gateways currently provide a limited number of channel element types, conversions from one vocoder to another. Further, the currently employed transcoders of these gateways often have the channel element types pre-provisioned. This means that only so many of these type of channel element (one kind of vocoder to another distinct kind of vocoder) are provided and are not adjustable while the communication system is operational.
With the advent of Internet Protocol, the use of voice over Internet Protocol has become quite prevalent. Such systems provide for the addition of all internet protocol transcoders and media gateways. These gateways typically have a large number of channel types due to the variations in protocols which are required for communicating from one network to another. As a result, the efficient assignment of channel types and allocation of individual calls to digital signal processors (DSPs) becomes critical due to the amount and variety of voice traffic.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to have a method for dynamically assigning channel element types to calls that provides for optimal capacity and flexibility of a transcoding function.